Afghanistan is currently experiencing one of the fastest-growing humanitarian crises in the world on top of a decades-long protracted humanitarian crisis. Three years after the Taliban became the de facto authority of Afghanistan, millions of Afghans are enduring one of the world's most severe and complex humanitarian crises. Families are trapped in cycles of poverty, displacement and despair.
More than 23 million people-over half of Afghanistan's population-are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Women and children are the most affected, accounting for 25% and 52% of the total needs, respectively. The country's economic instability, exacerbated by decades of conflict, climate shocks and political upheaval, has plunged millions into poverty, with unemployment rates doubling over the past year.
As of August 2024, the Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan had received just 25% of its necessary funding. This decline in support is severely impacting the delivery of humanitarian services-this year alone, 343 mobile health teams, more than half of all teams across the country, have been forced to shut down. Afghans urgently need humanitarian assistance to meet their immediate needs and developmental assistance to address the root causes of crisis in the country.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) began work in Afghanistan in 1988, and now works with thousands of villages across twelve provinces. As Afghanistan struggles to recover from ongoing conflict and natural disasters, the IRC works with local communities to identify, plan and manage their own development projects, provides safe learning spaces in rural areas, community-based education, basic health services to remote and hard to access communities, cash distribution provides uprooted families with tents, clean water, sanitation and other basic necessities, and helps people find livelihood opportunities as well as extensive resilience programming.
In the U.S., we resettle Afghan refugees with housing, employment, health care, education, and other comprehensive services.
Donate now to help us support children and families in Afghanistan and in crisis zones worldwide.
Your gift allows us to deliver comprehensive help to people affected by humanitarian crises and will be used where and when most needed. And, when combined with those of other donors, your gift becomes a powerful means to support our vital work, including education, health care, emergency support and job training for families in crisis worldwide.
